(24 October 2018) Plan S, announced last month, represents an exciting example of the scholarly community mobilising to create funding requirements that could lead to an open access future. However, the plan has also raised a number of legitimate concerns, not least the absence of any incentive for publishers to lower journal costs. Brian Cody suggests how simple adjustments to the proposed article processing charge cap could encourage publishers to reduce costs and so free up funds for other open access projects. However, an arguably more significant step would be to decentralise the journal market and democratise the publishing process through commitment to academic-led initiatives, with scholars driving academic publishing rather than a handful of large corporations.